The present invention relates to the transfer of information between a computer and a peripheral device. In particular the invention relates to a new method and apparatus which renders the diskette drive of a computer an input, an output, or an input/output port whereby a communication channel is established between the personal computer and the peripheral device or peripheral devices.
Personal computers contain a number of ports through which they communicate with peripheral devices such as keyboards, printers, modems, local area networks, scanners, compact disk drives and other peripherals which are not resident within the computer itself. Unfortunately the ports provided on the computer may not be suitable or available for the peripheral for which connection is desired. If additional ports are to be added, the computer has to be partially disassembled to install an appropriate circuit board and port. This installation is often difficult and in many cases is not undertaken by the user.
There remains a need to allow an effective method and apparatus for providing a communication channel between a personal computer and an exterior peripheral.